


The Loose Ends Will Make Knots

by wimblydonner



Category: Final Fantasy X-2
Genre: Accidental Relationship, F/F, F/M, Getting Together, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 16:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wimblydonner/pseuds/wimblydonner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Yuna's asked how long she and Tidus have been with Rikku, she needs to ask everyone around her, because they all seemed to have seen it before she did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Loose Ends Will Make Knots

**Author's Note:**

> For the Are You Game? community on Dreamwidth, prompt: _Final Fantasy X/X-2, Yuna/Rikku/Tidus: accidentally in love - Everyone knew the three of them were in a relationship. Everyone except Tidus, Rikku, and Yuna, that was._

Besaid did its best to allow Yuna and Tidus some semblance of a normal life. Tourists who came to gawk at the Lady High Summoner's residence were quietly nudged towards the village gates. Strangers who inquired about her current whereabouts received a noncommittal response and a watchful eye afterwards.

The reception was different for Rikku, of course. The town practically fell over itself to welcome the woman, whether she was there to give Vidina his Al Bhed lessons or to pay a visit to her Yunie. "Good morning, Rikku!" Letty calls out when she comes bounding through the town square. "Yuna's down at the market." 

"'kay." 

She invited herself in through Yuna's back door and flopped down at the kitchen table to wait. 

It wasn't long before Tidus emerged from the shower and found her there. She came by so often that he was no longer surprised to see Rikku popping up announced in his house, and he couldn't even be bothered that she'd chosen to do so when he had just a towel on. 

"Hey," he greeted her, knowing who she was looking for. "Yuna's out; she'll be back soon." 

"Yeah, I heard." She drummed her fingers on the table impatiently. "How's it hanging, Big T?" Tidus was always fun to hang out-slash-raise hell with. It was good to see him doing well even after he'd had to make Besaid his adopted home without any real say in the matter. 

"Good, good." Since he supposed to be dead or to have never existed at all, any day here was a good day. "Yuna keeps cooking up new recipes. We've been working on exploring the rest of the island. I'm, uh, going to go put some pants on, though." 

Rikku doesn't have to wait much longer before Yuna pokes her head in through the back door. "Hi, Letty told me you were looking for me." 

"Yunie!" Rikku's never had a day that couldn't be brightened by her best friend. She leapt up and threw her arms around Yuna's neck. Then her attention turned the L-shaped machina she'd brought with her, now propped up against the wall. "Brought you something awesome! _Guuuuuuesss_ what this is!" 

Yuna was blank-faced. Tidus, standing in doorway, did know, but he wasn't going to spoil Rikku's moment. 

"It's a vacuum cleaner! It cleans _for_ you. Watch." 

Rikku flipped a switch. Yuna jumped as the vacuum cleaner roared to life. Rikku swiped it back and forth across the rug, and Yuna watched in astonishment as the crumbs and dust were sucked up. "Check out how much time this is gonna save you!" She switched off the vacuum cleaner and offered its handle to Yuna. "Nhadala's just starting to put them into production, but I gotcha a prototype." 

Yuna was impressed with this latest in the set of hot-off-the-assembly-line inventions Rikku had brought her and Tidus: the clothes dryer, the dishwasher, the machina iron. She could see that daily life in Besaid would soon be nothing like it was before, with their daily chores replaced with more time to enjoy life and discover themselves. And she knew how much it mattered to Rikku that the Al Bhed's latest machina were now something sought after rather than feared, that centuries of persecution had finally given way to a second act. 

"That's great, Rikku. You're the best." 

"'course I am." 

In the new Spira, nothing had to be as it was before; all things now seemed possible. 

*** * ***

Kimahri made the trip down from Mt. Gagazet one day, ostensibly to discuss the delicate political situation on the mountain. But, Yuna knew he also just wanted to see the woman he'd watched over since she'd been a "cub." 

"The guest room is in here," Yuna said, tilting open the door at the end of the hallway. "I think there might be some of Rikku's stuff still around, but you can move it." 

That proved to be an understatement. There was a picture of Rikku's family on the desk, several complete outfits hanging in the closet, and her various machina gadgets strewn about the floor. 

Kimahri smiled in his kindly, paternal way and stepped back out of the room. "Kimahri can sleep on the couch." 

"No, it's fine!" Yuna insisted. "It's no more Rikku's room than anyone else's. We can adjust the bed for you." 

There was a lot for them to discuss. Yuna understood that any new form of government in Spira would not be popular on Gagazet, that the Ronso considered their affairs theirs alone and any aid from down below would be a grave dishonor. With folks like Garik Ronso around, Kimahri was sticking his neck out by supporting even a _compromise_ , some limited form of autonomy for the mountain. But Yuna implored him to see the importance of a single government for the Republic of Spira, reminded him that for every Garik Ronso demanding independence, there was his counterpart in Bevelle or Luca wondering why Gagazet should get _any_ special treatment at all. 

Attack me in public if you have to, Yuna told Kimahri. Just make sure the new constitution gets approved and we are one nation. 

They were up until the wee hours of the morning, and Yuna insisted that Kimahri take the guest room rather than the couch. "It's for everyone," she reminded him. 

The next morning, she checked in on him before he left to see if she could help with him anything, ask if she could cook him breakfast. But Kimahri prided himself on being the helper, not the helpee. And by the time Yuna came to the guest room, he'd already hung up Rikku's discarded clothes and fastidiously organized her machina parts on the desk. 

"Oh," Yuna said, embarrassed. "You didn't have to do that." 

Kimahri smiled again, knowing he'd made life a little easier for the young women he was watching grow up. "Kimahri put Rikku's bed back to her size," he explained as he started for the front door. 

Yuna shouted after him, "It's _not_ Rikku's --" 

But he was gone. 

*** * ***

Yuna wanted to be everything to everyone. Rikku knew that, understood how hard it was for Yuna to stick up for herself after being raised since birth to give her entire life for others. The poor girl didn't know when to stop. But _someone_ had to watch out for her and make sure she got the time for herself she deserved as much as anyone--that she deserved _more than_ anyone, in fact. 

The personal CommSphere line Yuna had had installed in her office to keep tabs on Spira's well-being didn't make it any easier. 

"Heya, Rikku," Gippal said when he called early one morning. "I'm looking for a special lady here in Besaid. Think her name might be Yuna." 

"Hold _on_ , stupidface," Rikku huffed. "If you want Yuna, you have to go through me. I'm her personal assistant now." 

"Does Yuna know?" 

Rikku picked up Yuna's day planner. There was, in fact, a call with the Machine Faction written in. Unfortunately, it came on the heels of the speech that Yuna was up late last night writing and before today's marksmanship training, music video dance rehearsal, and Sphere Break tournament. The poor girl was never going to get any sleep at this rate. 

Well, that wouldn't do. Rikku picked up a marker and drew a fat red line through the meeting with Gippal--and, then, after a moment's consideration, the rest of the day's events as well. 

"Sorry," Rikku said angelically, "it looks like the meeting was crossed out in her planner. We'll reschedule." 

By the time Yuna came stumbling into the room, still buttoning her blouse--"I'm so sorry! I overslept!"--Rikku had gone through the whole's day itinerary and called all of the appropriate parties to let them know the High Summoner was taking a rare vacation. And then she'd moved on to her usual duties of jotting down translations of the important headlines from the Al Bhed newspaper. 

"Don't worry, it's cool," Rikku told the flustered Yuna. "I already rescheduled everything for you. You can take a day off." 

"What? But I had so many things I had to do today!" Yuna reached for the calendar. 

Rikku yanked the calendar away so that Yuna couldn't get to it and give herself more work. " _Yunie_! You'll work yourself to death if we don't stop you. I already talked to T and we're taking you out fishing and then maybe a movie sphere." 

Yuna looked back into the living room and saw Tidus already loading up the fishing gear. "Oh dear. You're conspiring against me." 

"We're conspiring _for_ you, you dummy," Rikku teased as they dragged her out of the office. "C'mon. All work and no play makes Yunie a dull girl." 

Yuna was no longer be a summoner, but she would always need her guardians. 

*** * ***

But it was inevitable that the many hats Yuna wore--head of state, adventurer, pop star--took her away from Besaid sometimes. Tidus travelled with her when he could, especially during the offseason, but during Blitz season he was usually tethered to practicing with the Aurochs down at the beach. 

And so there were a number of times Tidus found himself staying in Besaid without his girlfriend even while Rikku crashed in what they still swore was a guest room. He felt slightly awkward about the whole situation; he didn't want anyone to think he was taking up with Rikku in Yuna's absence or anything like that. Yuna certainly didn't accuse them of any such thing--she was _glad_ they could keep each other company--but who knew what the rest of the island thought? 

In truth, it was kind of like having a roommate again, like reliving those innocent days in _his_ Zanarkand. With Yuna home, he had the hard-earned peace of a comfortable routine: starting off the day discussing the household finances and kissing Yuna goodbye as they left for their separate jobs like responsible adults. But when it was just Rikku around, he'd roll late out of bed and watch Rikku shovel scrambled eggs into her mouth with alarming speed while simultaneously solving the newspaper sudoku. 

"I'm about to leave for practice, and I'm going to stop at the market on the way back," he announced once morning as he was heading out the door. 

Rikku looked at him like she wasn't sure why he was telling her this. "'kay. _I'm_ about to go pee." 

Nope. Definitely not like Yuna. 

But, they got along well. Rikku was the first person he'd met when he came to Spira, after all, and they'd clicked even before he knew about Yuna or summoners or Besaid. Rikku was _fun_ , able to see the excitement and opportunity in every moment in a way that Yuna was still struggling to learn. She'd tease him mercilessly over the slightest cause; he'd ask her about her last machina, and she'd get so excited and spill out a jumble of words he couldn't hope to understand but liked hearing anyway. 

And, he was glad for Yuna's sake, too, that Rikku was around. Somewhere between when he disappeared off the airship deck and when he later came swimming up to Besaid, Rikku had become Yuna's closest and most important companion, always there to lift up her in celebration after one of their triumphs--which, usually, after all, were a team effort. He was pretty sure that Rikku knew Yuna even better than he did--probably always would--and he was fine with that. Yuna needed her BFF. 

One day after practice, Wakka followed after Tidus as he went up to the beach to stop at the market. "Hey," Wakka said, "Lu and I are going up to Kilika to catch a play, and we were thinking it might be fun to make it a double date, ya?" 

"Not tonight; Yuna's out of town, sorry." He looked down at the pair of crabs he'd picked out and realized how Wakka might have gotten confused. "Ah, it's for Rikku; she's staying over." 

Wakka shrugged. "Oh. Would Rikku would want to come?" 

He headed for the checkout. "Well, it wouldn't really be a _date_ then." 

"It can be whatever we want, ya?" Wakka gave him a nudge. "C'mon. We've got extra tickets." 

*** * ***

Rikku had been trying her hardest to find herself a significant other so she could get out of Yuna and Tidus's hair all the time. It's just that they set such a high bar for her to live up to. Yunie and Tidus had all this history together, had been part of so many pivotal moments of each other's lives, had this whole epic love story. How could she even begin to create something like that when she didn't have someone remotely like that in her own story? The only person who'd shared all of the key events of _her_ life was ... Yuna. 

But Nhadala had been putting forth a valiant effort. She was fun to gab about machina with, and even if she didn't harmonize on her emotional notes quite the way Yuna and Tidus did, Rikku appreciated what a no-nonsense person she was. Nhadala never had any veiled implications to decode nor tangled web of emotions to unweave. Whenever Nhadala asked her out on a date, she could show up at the time they'd agreed on, enjoy a nice evening, and not have to worry whether she was stealing time away from someone else's lover. 

They were leaving dinner at the new Guado restaurant in Luca that Nhadala had recommended when Nhadala jerked her thumb towards an inn down the street. "I'm staying just over there. Do you want to come up to my room?" 

Urk. This was awkward. She knew she should be advancing her relationship with Nhadala, but she had so many other things she cared about that it hadn't quite been her top priority. 

"Um," Rikku said. "Yuna and Tidus are both sick, and I promised I was gonna go shopping for them." 

Nhadala looked alarmed. "Are they OK? Are they in the hospital?" It would have been a national crisis if Lady Yuna's health was in danger. 

"Oh, no, just, like, the flu." 

Nhadala's expression quickly went from one of concern to one of frustration. "And you're going to bail on our date for that?" 

Rikku hesitated. She realized how silly it sounded when you said it like that, but she barely knew Nhadala, and she'd been friends with Yunie and Tidus for ages. What kind of person would she be if she broke her promises and shoved everyone else aside just because she had a new girlfriend? 

"C'mon," Nhadala continued, "you're being silly." 

That did it. Yuna never would have never mocked her for wanting to spend time with Nhadala; why did _Nhadala_ did get to boss her around like this? She stepped away from Nhadala, knowing that there wasn't really a diplomatic way to handle this. "Yeah. I gotta go. Sorry." 

Later, she received a note from Nhadala: She'd enjoyed their dates, but she didn't think they had much of a future together when Rikku had so many other priorities. "I feel like you're _already_ in a relationship," the note had said. 

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, crumpled the note, and tossed it in the recycling. It wasn't _her_ fault if Nhadala couldn't understand why Yuna and Tidus were so important to her. Somebody, someday would get that, right? 

*** * ***

Despite Yuna repeatedly swearing she had retired from adventuring, it never took much her to get her back in the game. Paine would show up with a lead to some dusty ruins or dangerous cave that might contain an ancient Sphere (or might not; the results of their haul was of secondary importance). And off they'd go, cavorting through unknown lands and taking down fiends with practiced teamwork. Rikku and Paine would heckle Yuna for being such a doormat, Paine would pretend not to care about Yuna and Rikku until they coaxed it out of her, and it would all be just like old times. 

But this time around, everything seemed a bit different to Paine. Yuna and Rikku weren't bouncing off each other with excitement and harebrained schemes; in fact, their every conversation seemed hesitant and nervous. Both of them followed Paine everywhere, trying to keep her between them. And when Rikku started to change into her armor, Yuna immediately covered her eyes and ducked into another room. 

Paine finally got Yuna alone for a minute when she was checking her guns. "Hey," Paine said, "if we're going to do this adventure, we need to be a team. I'm not going to mediate whatever the hell's going on between you and Rikku." 

Yuna looked a little frustrated at being called out even if she couldn't have really expected Paine not to pick up on anything. "Something's 'going on' between us?" 

"It's rather obvious. I mean, I can tell you what I _think_ happened, but I'd rather you not make me guess." 

Yuna threw up her hands in resignation. "Fine. We slept with her." 

"'We'?" 

Yuna, shamefaced, cast her gaze down at her boots. "Both of us. Tidus and--" 

"Wait, hold on. Like _together_ together?" 

"Yeah." 

Oh, Yuna. It always _was_ the quiet ones, wasn't it? Oh well. It sure sounded like a fun time for them--more fun that Paine had been having, at any rate. Good job Yuna, getting so much action. She laughed gently. "You're such a perv." 

It didn't have quite the effect she'd intended. "I'm sorry, OK!" Yuna shouted out and took off running with a speed that came only when you truly wished you could outrun your problems. 

Paine jogged after her. She didn't quite the level of desperation to run that fast, but she eventually caught with Yuna at the engine room, where Yuna had shut the door and locked herself inside. This felt to Paine like an enormous overreaction, but she banged on the door anyway. "Yuna? I wasn't trying to insult you." 

"If I'm such a pervert, you probably don't want to talk to me," Yuna snapped back from inside. Paine thought she heard a few muffled sobs. 

"All right, I'm sorry I called you a perv; I was just joking." Paine still felt a little annoyed about the situation, but whatever. Maybe she didn't have the full story. "Are you okay with what happened? I just want to make sure Tidus didn't force you into anything you weren't comfortable with." 

This only seemed to make the situation worse. "It was _my_ idea, OK?" Yuna howled. "I know I'm a bad person. Just go away!" 

"Yuna, you're the last person in Spira who should ever say that." Paine was finally catching on to the fact that Yuna had some pretty complicated feelings about this. The poor girl still wasn't used to doing things because _she_ wanted to. "You didn't anything wrong. Lots of people like having sex; I'm glad you're getting out there and enjoying yourself. There's no shame in being in a three-way once." 

Yuna sniffled and calmed herself enough to at least shout through the door without screaming. "It was more than once." 

"Fine. There's no shame in being in a three-way twice." 

"It was more than twice." 

Well, Yuna was _certainly_ getting up to all kinds of excitement in her spare time, but Paine knew to keep her mouth shut about that now. "Yuna, who's going to stay mad at you? Everyone in Spira owes their entire future to you." 

Yuna unlatched the door and stepped out, looking no less upset but at least willing to talk about things. "I _don't want_ people to feel like they can't be mad at me," she confessed. And, indeed, Yuna's closest friends were never the ones that worshipped at her feet; they were the ones that were important enough to each other that she could have these screaming, knock-down, drag-out arguments with them. 

The racket had attracted Rikku to the engine room. And when she saw Yuna puffy-eyed and quivering and Paine awkward and uncomfortable, it didn't take her long to figure out what they been discussing. 

And she wasn't happy about it. 

Her fist swiped through the air in a gesture of rage. "You know, Yunie, if you wanted to kiss and tell, you could at least pick someone who isn't _my_ friend too. How do you think this is going to make things for _me_?" 

Paine should have learned by now that any attempt to smooth things over between Yuna and Rikku invariably ended up with both of them mad at _her_ , but she couldn't stop herself from trying to intervene on Yuna's behalf. "It was my fault; I asked her about what was going on; she really didn't want to talk ab--" 

Rikku's accusing finger wheeled on Paine. "You shut up, Dr. P; if you care more about what's going on Yuna's life more than mine, you can't expect me to be happy about it. I hope you know that I'm really, really mad at both of you!" Rikku yelled before she stormed off to the bedroom. 

Paine tried to give Yuna a sympathetic tilt of the head--Rikku was being totally irrational, right?--only to find that Yuna was also giving her the stink-eye. "Thanks a lot," Yuna huffed and walked off. 

_Give me a break,_ Paine thought. She was left wanting to punch something, so she took that as her cue to go down off the airship and explore this cave like they were _supposed_ to be doing. This one did, in fact, contain a hoary old sphere from the time of Lady Yocun's Calm. 

Feeling at least slightly better after punching a few fiends, she returned to the Celsius sphere in hand, hoping things had calmed down by them. But the bridge was still as a quiet as a mouse. 

"Yuna? Rikku?" she called. "I went and got the sphere while you were busy being angry." 

There wasn't a peep of reply from either of them. Great of them to take out their relationship problems out on her. Real mature. She rolled her eyes, left the sphere on the table, and went to bed. Feelings were stupid, and she was dumb for having them. 

But when she returned to the bridge the next morning, Yuna and Rikku were gathered in a conspiratorial huddle and had their gazes fixed on the door like they'd been watching for her. 

"Hey," Yuna said. "I'm sorry about yesterday." 

Paine shrugged. 

"It wasn't fair to take everything out on you. Things have been kind of complicated for us lately." 

"Might help if you didn't try to put yourself in the middle of other people's problems, though," Rikku piped in. 

"Yeah. Sorry." She could take a few arguments. Heck, she expected them. Truth be told, she was more worried they were mad at _each other_. That wasn't something she would admit often, but Yuna and Rikku were great, she really liked them, and she didn't want to screw up whatever they and/or Tidus had going on. They seemed pretty good for each other, in a bizarre-love-triangle sorta way. "It's fine if you want to stay mad at me as long as you two kiss and make up." 

She didn't anticipate what would happen next, though she probably should have. 

"I didn't necessarily mean that _literally_..." Paine protested, but by that point, Rikku and Yuna are already all over each other, arms wrapped around necks, hair mingling, and kissing. 

And kissing. 

And _kissing_. 

Paine, sensing she was no longer needed or even remembered here, tried to back out of the room as unobtrusively as possible. She rolled her eyes, but this time it was with an affectionate smile on her face. "Geez, get a room." 

*** * ***

Long after Lulu stopped being Yuna's guardian, she was still her most trusted confidant, her surrogate big sister, the one Yuna came to with her most soul-baring secrets and deepest crises. 

"It's about Rikku," Yuna said, staring into the fabrics wafting in the summer breeze. 

Lulu didn't need to say anything. She already knew that. And what they both also recognized is that Yuna _knew_ Lulu already knew, that in fact Lulu often understood Yuna's needs and desires even before Yuna herself did. 

So Lulu just let Yuna talk. 

"It's ... I know she's been around a lot lately, and I realized everyone probably thinks of her as living here, but we just like spending time with her, you know? I don't want people to think Tidus is creating some kind of harem or something." 

"Oh, I'd never say _that_ ," Lulu says with a smirk. "If it's anyone's harem, it's _yours_." 

"I don't have a harem!" Yuna had to feign outrage even if she was grateful that she had the kind of friends who could tease her about this. It was a ridiculous idea; she got the mental image of a scantily-clad Rikku and Tidus feeding her grapes as she ran her hands over their -- mmm, well, maybe she _did_ want a harem. 

"I know. But you love her a lot." 

"Sure. She's my best friend." 

Lulu gave her an extremely disappointed glare. Yuna ought to know better than to think that excuse would fly with her--or anyone else. 

And so Yuna was left to wring her hands as she fought to come up with an explanation for a set of feelings she feared she could never make sense of or justify. "I mean, if things were different-- I can't-- I don't know what people would say-- it's just not how we do things." 

But Lulu knew there was more to Yuna than that. There was no one in Spira better able to change "how we do things." Yuna could see further, set her own course and define a new, authentic life in a way that Lulu knew she herself could never do. "Since when have you been one to accept things they way they're usually done?" 

Even someone as self-effacing as Yuna had to acknowledge she had done some pretty remarkable things in her life. "I know, but ... the three of us? Isn't that weird?" she asked. "Or I guess I should ask ... _how_ weird is it? I mean, you wouldn't do this, would you?" 

"Oh, not _me_ ," Lulu said, "but I'm not you." 

Yuna sighed and watched the cloths sway. It seemed silly: She'd stood up to the church that ruled Spira and overthrown a 1,000-year old evil, and yet she couldn't sort out her own feelings. But destroying Sin had been an _easy_ decision; it was the only possible choice to do right by the people of Spira. But now she was accountable to no one but herself, and that made things so much harder. 

"One thing," Lulu said as she went to put the kettle on. "You can't go stringing the poor girl along like this. She's got a heart, too." 

"I know, I know," Yuna said. Still she hoped that something would intervene to give her a greater sense of certainty. "It's just that it's one thing for us to care about her, another if we started being in a _relationship_..." 

But it was Lulu's next comment that finally gave her that certainty. 

"Be honest. Aren't you already?" 

*** * ***

Another late summer night had been spent playing Rikku's complicated board games and then chatting beneath the stars once it had finally cooled down enough for the three of them to sit outside. 

But when Yuna and Tidus started to trundle off to their bedroom, Rikku was once again forced to remember that she lived in an unpleasant land called reality. These perfect moments weren't promises of a brighter future to come; they were dangerous mirages that threatened to lure her off the path she needed to follow. 

Oh, Rikku was plenty good at getting what she wanted most of the time. She understood people, knew how to make them give her what she wanted and feel happy about it, but there some things that even she couldn't manage. Some things could never be, and it was silly to even think about them. 

She started packing up her things from the guest room, swearing that this would be the time when she finally sucked it up and left for go, the time when she finally broke away to go find the life that she was meant to live. It might be painful, it might require her to tear herself away from everything she loved most, but everything truly worth doing required sacrifice, right? The world was a tough place sometimes. 

Tidus found her folding shirts into her suitcase. "Hey," he said gently, knowing how complicated things had gotten for them. "Aren't you going to bed?" 

"I'm going _home_ ," Rikku insisted. Despite her best attempts to be strong, her voice quavered a little with the strain of one asked to endure far more than most hearts could take. 

"Rikku." Yuna appeared in the doorway, dressed in some of her fancy lingerie--whether for Tidus's benefit or for _hers_ Rikku didn't know, and at this point didn't care to find out. "This _is_ your home, isn't it?" 

Rikku let the shirt fall out of her hand and just stood there. She was too tired to argue, too frustrated to hope for anything better. 

"I know," Tidus said. "We haven't been the fairest to you." 

"But," Yuna continued. "I think everyone else already realized we were in love a long time ago. Maybe it's time we did, too." 

Rikku's clothes did finally come out of the guest room, but only so they could be moved into the master bedroom.


End file.
